Replace truck with UTV?

[midwesthunter]

I am at a crossroads, and thinking about selling my truck and buying a UTV.

I have 2010 Ram 1500 quadcab TRX4. I put a Bilstein 5100's up front set at 2.8" lift, I did a 1.5" lift in the rear with upgraded shocks, upgraded tires to 35's and have a truck cap. Runs and drives great, MPG sucks but its a truck, from the factory 20 hwy MPG, when I replaced the cheap factory tires with a real truck tire 18 MPG hwy, and now I get 15 MPG on the highway with current configuration.

I use it like a truck, if it gets scratched it gets scratched, I only use it during hunting season and to pull the boat to the lake or river, its not my daily. So it is parked most of the time and starting to notice a lot more rust underneath and paint bubbles. I have also racked up 140K miles on it so far, has plenty of life left in it or should. Its pretty scratched up from hunting trips out west. And being almost 12 years old with 140K+ miles is it going to start nickel and diming me one will never know until too late.

Well I got tboned in my daily and with current used prices, insurance gave me 500 less then what I paid for it 5 years and about 90K miles ago. It was still drivable and have a buddy who does body work and needed a better fuel efficient vehicle, so I bought back my totaled daily for $760 and have traded it to my buddy to fix the rust spots and paint the truck and cap to match. So I will have a great looking truck here in a couple weeks.

The truck is paid for and is our extra vehicle and we have a larger SUV that I could use to pull the boat and have a utility trailer. If it was a crew cab selling it wouldn't even be a thought, but I really could use more leg room/storage in the backseat.

So I am thinking of selling it, buying a UTV and just trailering it out west for my hunting trips and another toy to have to do stuff around here.

A couple of my western trip I wished I had a UTV rather then my truck to get into some areas that I couldn't take my truck into or for the areas I took my truck through and shouldn't have.

There isn't a ton of places I can take the UTV around here so that is another thing I am taking into consideration is will it not get enough use also?

Since I was 16 I have always had a truck and I am 40 now. I feel like I will regret getting rid of it as soon as I do.

Anyone use a UTV for a majority of your getting around out west?

 

[elkhnter]

Personally, I couldn’t/wouldn’t live without a truck. I have 2. A UTV would be nice, if we could drive on county roads. We can drive them in town, but still have to get there. Not saying we don’t run the roads, but don’t get caught.
I haul too much stuff to mess with a trailer every time.
Guess I could get rid of one truck and get a UTV, but also have 3 ATVs in the barn.
Too many toys.

 

[mtmuley]

Don't get rid of the truck. mtmuley

 

[Nick87]

Don't get rid of the truck. mtmuley

Yah, utv would be nice but pretty hard to replace a truck

 

[elkduds]

Depreciation, transportation and maintenance/repair expenses for a UTV dwarf the cost of keeping an older truck running. If you rent a UTV when you get out west, you won't have to store it, haul it or maintain it.

 

[tillicant]

Couldn't do without a truck but this year bought a utv, sold an atv.
We never hunt the same area twice but have been in some areas where I really didn't want to be with my truck. Will see this year.

 

[Addicting]

No way I could do it, too many places to go that a UTV would be illegal.

 

[tillicant]

No way I could do it, too many places to go that a UTV would be illegal.

Thats something I forgot to ask.
Are you going to hunt legally?
Or illegally?
That should help make up your mind

 

[hank4elk]

I have 2 trucks...........what's a UTV....lol

 

[TOGIE]

if you have the mindset of going where OHVs can't, i'd wager you'll have more success over the years out west than not.

if you have an OHV then you gotta use it or it's a waste of money - you focus on going places in your OHV and using it, in my mind that's an unintentional handicap.

 

[tillicant]

if you have the mindset of going where OHVs can't, i'd wager you'll have more success over the years out west than not.

if you have an OHV then you gotta use it or it's a waste of money - you focus on going places in your OHV and using it, in my mind that's an unintentional handicap.

Agree on use. We use ours also for site restoration, seeding, staking. I would also consider it a lot of money for a little riding but if you ever hit the trails in our state you would realize most riders don't think that way.

 

[ccc23454]

I use the hell out of my SxS and consider it a big part of my hunting transportation. I would never not have a pickup first and foremost. I quess if you have a large SUV to use as a primary and pull a trailer with SxS it would work. We talked about this in a different thread recently, i drive my expensive as hell diesel longbed to my hunt areas and then unload my atv out of bed or SxS out of a trailer to hunt. Save wear and tear on truck and is so much more practical for access for where i typically hunt. This also allows me to access numerous areas that vehicles over 64" wide are either illegal or just simply dont fit not to mention benefits when factors like weather and muddy/snow trails and roads come into play. This camp is 5? miles all up hill from nearest legal fullsize vehicle access, but you do need a $15 sticker (id/wy) From here i can hike less than a mile and be into alpine basins glassing muleys. I will add mine has become a critical tool around house/yard and i couldnt run bear baits without it and plows my entire neighborhood in winter, so uses other than just hunting.

 

[Redman]

If I lived in the West I would own a UTV. Even here in the Hoosier state where I can drive them on the roads I still have little use for one. To justify the expense of owning one to use on occasion...can't do it. A truck set up right is the way to go in my opinion.

 

[The_Jim]

Get both. I drive my pickup to the point where the trail starts to suck. Then I hop on my UTV. Scratching and denting a UTV is way less painful than doing the same to a nice pickup. The UTV is also a lot easier to recover when you get stuck.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

I have a UTV and use it daily around the farm, don't know what I'd do without it anymore.

I have zero use for a UTV/ATV for hunting. I do own a couple nice pair of boots though.

 

[Hunt&FishCO]

I live out West and would not get rid of a truck to have a UTV. Couple of things to consider (Heat/Warmth, reliability, storage/hauling, how many are usually in your hunting party).

UTVs are super exposed which sucks when it get cold/windy; truck can haul a whole elk off the mountain vs. multiple trips. If you hunt with 2 or more people Id imagine it gets real tight in a SXS.

I hunt a lot of late season and having a snowmobile would actually get me back into more places than a UTV could. I also don’t enjoy towing all that much either.

 

[Chingon]

I have a truck, 2 door Jeep Rubicon and a UTV (with a toyhauler camper and utility trailer).

If I had to live with one - truck, no doubt. Just have to walk more and beat up on it more than I'd like.

If I got to pick two? Truck and UTV. Still not ideal for some units where there are lots of paved roads between trailheads. Real PITA to not be able to reach all trailheads from camp (need a 2nd truck to haul the utility trailer up if I have the toyhauler).

Hence the Jeep. For some units I've found it easier to camp/hotel and just drive nearly everywhere my SXS can go. Heat, A/C and stereo make it nice, but way slower going off-road. This is primarily for units where I couldn't spend as much time as necessary scouting, and essentially had to spend the first few days during the hunt exploring.

With used prices way up I've thought about selling the Jeep, but it still serves its purpose.

For me, a perfect scenario is a hunt where I can drop my toyhauler and reach all trailheads of interest via dirt on the SXS.

 

[Lonnie58]

Have an ATV and SxS I'd like to use more to "protect" my truck, but noise wise, they just seem to disrupt the area more than I'd like.

 

[tillicant]

I did the same this past season, the area we hunted would have trashed my truck. We were able to get into areas where I normally would not have driven. All were legal open trails. Realize the noise thing but we would hike in another mile +/- to where we were hunting.

 

[Hammsolo]

I can’t imagine not having a truck purely for utility. I laughed my ass off this year glassing guys down below me cruising roads in the bitter cold in open UTVs.

I have to admit I wanted one after driving a well-off buddy’s. If you have the change to throw 30k at one I’d get one. His has everything a truck has. It’s the top Polaris Ranger and is fully decked out with aluminum truck racks, lights all around, full-cab, and even heated seats… it rips and could easily haul an elk in the bed…

On that note, I can’t afford that.